Alex SwensonRecruiting Advisor| This is a digital version of Alex

How much scholarship money is realistic?

20 Mar 2026 · 2 min

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1:35

In this video, former Division‑I coach, scout, and recruiter Alex Swenson explains that meaningful athletic scholarship money is not limited to elite, nationally‑ranked athletes. He outlines four typical four‑year scholarship tiers across all sports—$1,000‑$50,000, $50,000‑$100,000, $100,000‑$200,000, and $200,000+. He notes that the mid‑range tiers are common, especially in larger sports and at Power‑4 schools (SEC, ACC, Big Ten, Big 12). Swenson emphasizes that most scholarship recipients are solid, coachable student‑athletes rather than blue‑chip stars, and he advises prospects to focus on high academic performance (high GPA) and dedicated skill and strength development to maximize scholarship opportunities.

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How much scholarship money is actually realistic? It's probably more than you think. Most people assume that scholarship money is only for 5-star athletes, nationally ranked, blue-chip kids, heavily promoted. Well, that's not the reality. As a former D1 coach, scout, and recruiter who gave out a lot of these scholarships and now that work with athletes that gets a lot of these scholarships, the majority of them who get meaningful scholarship money are solid student athletes. Student and athletes. They're hardworking, they're coachable, and they're not superstars. Frankly, I was one of those. So what's actually realistic? Here's how the scholarship tiers typically play out over 4 years, and this is for all sports collectively. Starting off with $1,000 to $50,000. This is more common in smaller and emerging sports. Next, we have $50,000 to $100,000. This is where offers start to become much more common. Now we have $100,000 to $200,000. This is actually not as uncommon as you might think, especially with the bigger sports. And lastly, $200,000 plus. This is the outlier, but they're very, very loud. And this is usually coming from the bigger schools, bigger sports, or the Power 4 schools— SEC, ACC, Big Ten, Big 12. There's more scholarship money out there than ever before. Just make sure you have a plan and you are focused in the classroom and your GPA is high as possible because there's a lot of academic scholarship money out there, then of course you're focused on your skill development and getting strong in the weight room. Good luck.